The Secret Life of Adam Davi

"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is one of my favorite short stories.  I loved it when I first read it and I loved teaching it.  And James Thurber is one of the most gifted authors I have ever read.  I'm currently rereading one of his books of short stories and loving every minute of it.  The centerpiece of the book is "Walter Mitty" though.  And with the new movie adaptation out in theaters, it has been nice to revisit the story.  I think the reason I like it so much is because I can relate to Walter.

Walter Mitty daydreams about being in heroic and dangerous situations.  He fantasizes about escaping his boring, pedestrian life.  I can understand that.  I often daydream myself.  In fact, I probably daydream an unhealthy amount of the day.  My fantasies are a little different than Walter's though.

Sometimes I fantasize how my life would be different if I had made different choices in life.  I create all these different alternate lives for myself based on changing one decision from the past.  Sometimes I fantasize about the future and what exciting things I might be doing, like being a college professor or a published author.  Sometimes I fantasize about telling off my old principal.  I hate that guy.  Sometimes I fantasize about being friends with famous people and attending red carpet premieres and awards shows.  And I fantasize about being able to talk more smoothly with women.  That would be nice.

I don't do all of this necessarily because I am unhappy with my life like Walter Mitty appears to be, but I do often think my life could be better.  And sometimes it's just my way of motivating myself to make some things better in my life.  Either way, it's my way of escaping into another world, a secret life as it it were.  Most of my fantasies are based somewhat in reality, unlike Walter's which are purely fantastic.  My secret life is more about envisioning a better me, not a different me.  I like me, but I know I can be better.  Sometimes I'm just afraid, though.  And that's why I fantasize, because sometimes that's easier.  But I hope it inspires me a little too.  Walter Mitty, on the other hand, fantasizes to escape the doldrums of his life.  He isn't happy or confident and imagines himself in positions that exude confidence and heroism.  I haven't seen the movie yet so I don't know how consistent that version is with the original story, though.  Either way, I'm excited to see it.  And I think we all probably have a secret life.  Some of us probably escape into it more than others.  But I think it's healthy and we should all probably acknowledge our secret lives a little more often.